Child s harness



`H. C. BAILEY.

CHILD'S HARNESS..

APPucATlou man umzo. 191s.

1,320,082. Patented oct. 28,1919.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD C. BAILEY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

CHILDS HARNESS.

Application filed January 20, 1919.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD C. BAILEY, a citizen of the United States, residing in St. L ouis, Missouri, have invented Childrens Harness, of which the following is a specification. l

One obj ect of my invention is to providel a relatively simple, inexpensive and easily utilized device for preventing an infant or young child from becoming uncovered when put to bed, either by its throwing off the blanket or other cover or by crawling from under the covers ,-the construction of the parts of my device being such as to permit the child to turn over and move freely fr om side to side of its bed or crib while limiting its movement toward the head thereof.

I further desire toprovide a novel form of childs harness for limiting its longitudinal movement in bed and Which may in sonic casesinclude a garment for carrying or retaining certain parts of said'harness in definite positions the invention contemplating an arrangement of parts especially designed to facilitate the placing .of the device on and its removal from the child.

Another object of my invention is to provide a relatively simple, and easily applied device for holding a cover in a desired position over a child and which shall effectually prevent such cover from being dislodged while at the same time coperating with harness applied to the child to prevent the latter from moving from a prone to a sitting position or from moving out from under the covering.

These objects and other advantageous ends I attain as hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawin s, in which, l

igure 1 is a plan showing my invention as applied to a child in a crib;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in vertical section, on the line 2f2, Fig. 1

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of part of the crib and the mattress therefor, showing that part of my device for holding a blanket or other cover in the desired position;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a convenient form of garment such as a sack, cape or coat showing a portion of the harness as attached thereto; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective of a modied form of the harness consituting my invention.

In the above drawings, 1 represents the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 28', 1919.

Serial No. 272,129.

posts of a crib having a head section 2, a foot section 3 and sides 4, together with side frame members of which one is indicated at 5 and a mattress 6. In order to retain a blanket or other covering 7 in the proper position over a child in a recumbent or prone position in the crib as shown in Fig. l, one end thereof is pinned or otherwise firmly connected to the mattress by pins 8 adjacent the foot end 3 of' the crib. The opposite end of the blanket or cover is provided with a hem or turned over portion 9, which may be made permanent by stitching or teinporary by the use of pins 10, forming a transverse tubular end for the reception of a heavy braid or strap 1l. The projecting ends l2 0f this latter may be longitudinally split or divided to permit of their being conveniently tied to the side frame members 5 of the crib, although as indicated in Fig. 3, they may be provided with buttonholes 13 for the reception of buttons 14 respectively mounted on tapes or cords 15 tied to the side frame members 5. In any case the arrangement is such that after the child hasbeen laid in the desired position in the crib and the lower end of the blanket 7 pinned to the mattress, the upper end of said blanket may be drawn up over the childs shoulders and the ends of said braid or strap tied or buttoned to the frame members, so that while the child is free to move sidewise, it cannot raise itself to a sitting position or so dislodge the blanket as to become uncovered.

In order to prevent the child from crawling from under the blanket lbetween its forward end and the head 2 of the crib, I provide a harness consisting of a pair of straps 16 designed to pass over the shoulders and each preferably stitched or it may be buttoned to a belt 17 respectively at the middle of the front and back thereof. I also provide a retaining member of heavy braid having a generally Y shaped form whose branches 18 may be buttoned or otherwise detachably connected with the belt 17 at the middle of the front and back thereof. In the present instance I have shown these branches as provided with button holes designed to receive buttons 19 and 20, of which the latter is fastened to the middle of the back of the belt 17 and the former is at the middle of the front of said belt. If desired the belt and shoulder straps may be made of a single length of material without departing from my invention, in which case the ends of such length would as before have button holes and both engage the button 20 at the middle of the back of' the belt, while the second button 19 would be placed on the length of material at the point where one of the shoulder straps oins the belt, the latter having a button hole 21 for said button 19 at the similar point where the-second shoulder strap joins the belt as indicated in Fig.

The main portion 22 of the Y-shaped member extends from the point of junction of the two branches 18 and is of such a length as to be capable of attaclmient to one of the members constituting the bottom part or foot 3 of the crib. For `connecting this body portion of said member to the center of the foot of the crib, it is provided with a button or snap 23 whereby after its extremity has been passed around one of the cross bars 2e, it may be detachably secured to the body of said belt.

Under conditions of use the strap elements 16 are put in place on the child and their ends are buttoned or strapped to the f belt 17 as shown. The ends of the branches 18 are then connected to the buttons 19 and 20 and the body 22 of this branch member is extended between the childs legs to the bar 24a of the crib frame to which its end is connected. After the child has been placed in a recuinbent position in the crib, the lower end of the blanket 7 is attached to the mattress by the pins 8 and its upper end is drawn over the child, the ends of the braid 11 previously pinned or run through the blanket being secured to the side frame members 5 of the crib. Vhile the child is -now free to turn or move from side to side of the crib, it obviously cannot crawl forwardly out of the space between the forward end of the blanket 7 and the head 2 of the crib since this is prevented 'by the holding strap or braid 18-2'21- Moreover it is prevented from moving to a sitting position by the transverse braid 11 and the cover secured thereto.

If desired, the body harness 16-17 may be detachably or permanently secured to a coat or sack-like garment 25, Fig. 4, made of blanket or other suitable material and having extra long sleeves Q6 provided at their `ends with draw strings 27 which may be pulled up and tied so as to close said sleeves to protect the hands in severe Copies of this weather. l/Vhen not in use the sleeves may be turned back at the cuff and tied to a loop 28 sewn to the under part of the sleeve. As before, the movementslimiting member 18- 22 cooperates with the braid 11 xed to the upper end of the blanket, to hold the child in a recumbent position and prevent it from moving out from under the blanket while leaving complete freedom of arm movement. For the purpose of my invention it is immaterial whether or not the braid 11 be permanently or temporarily fixed to the blanket although l preferably use it as shown in a hem or tubular passage provided by turning over and pinning down the top end of said blanket. I

lt is to be noted that the sack or coat may be `worn either under or over the above described harness and in the latter case it would be necessary for said coat to be provided with a button hole at the middle of the lower edge of the back and with two other button holes at its lower front edges. 1With this arrangement said coat when desirable7 could be conveniently placed over the ordinary night garment and harness and buttoned to the front and back of the latter.

I claim:

l. The combination in a childs harness of a belt; shoulder straps connected thereto; with a flexible retaining member detachably connected to said belt in fixed positions at the front and back thereof independently of the shoulder straps and extending away from the belt in a direction opposite to that of said straps.

2. The combination of a harness adapted to t the body of a child including a belt having ends detachably connected in front and shoulder straps connected to the back of the belt and also connected respectively to the ends thereof at its front; a coat having said harness attached to it; with a flexible member for connecting the front and back of said harness to the front of a bed.

8. The combination of a childs garment; a harness mounted on the outside of said garment including portions extending over the shoulders and around the waist thereof; with a flexible member detachably connected to said harness and formed for connection to the foot of a bed.

In witness whereof l affix my signature.

. HOWARD C. ALEY.

patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

